Reminiscences of a financial columnist

It is telling that one of the best books about financial markets was published almost a century ago. “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator”, by Edwin Lefevre, is a fictionalised account of the exploits of Jesse Livermore, a speculator. Livermore made a fortune selling the market short during the financial panic of 1907. He would repeat the trick in 1929. The book captures a particular time—of bucket shops, insider pools and dandy tips on Western Union or American Steel. But it is also timeless.

As this writer finishes a four-year stint as Buttonwood, the one tentative conclusion he draws from the experience is something that Livermore realised a century ago: there is nothing new on Wall Street. What happens today in the markets has happened before and will happen again. Every extreme of greed or fear has a precedent. Technology changes, but people do not.